<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Las Vegas --- Hawks captain Joe Johnson didn't have to continue his annual ritual of criss-crossing the country in search of the most challenging summer pick-up basketball games. He had an invitation this year, along with 23 other players, to the U.S. national team's training camp in preparation for next month's World Championships in Japan. "This is the best run for an NBA player anywhere on the planet," an animated Johnson said after practice wrapped up Thursday morning at Cox Pavilion on the campus of UNLV. "Look at these guys we've got in the gym. Where else can you go and have LeBron [James] and Dwyane [Wade] on one side and Carmelo [Anthony] and Chauncey [Billups] on the other? It doesn't get any better than this. And you know how much I love to play ball, so this is paradise for me. "It's like [Hawks] Coach [Mike] Woodson always says, 'We've got the best job in America.' There's not a question that he's right about that. This is the best job in America right now, hands down." There might not be a more important job in American basketball right now than this one. With USA Basketball's complete makeover after an 11-6 record in international competition the past four years, there has been an acknowledgement by all involved --- from USA Basketball general manager Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski all the way down --- that the resurrection of the program has to begin here. Wade, who along with James played on the 2004 Olympic team that took home the bronze medal in Athens, said there is already a distinct difference between this group and the one that failed in the Olympics. "We weren't enemies or anything like that," he said of the 2004 Olympic team. "We got along as players. We just didn't have it. We just didn't have what we needed mentally to play against teams that wanted to get after us night after night. "This group is already different. The guys already have an understanding of what we're trying to do, and we're going to have a little more time to prepare." </div> Source
